Bad News: GMO Study, Corn and … The Worst News: How It Effects You and Your Children

 If you are already eating organic food and think that GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) don’t affect you, it very likely does affect your day-care or school age children.  Plus, it still affects those in your family who don’t eat organic.   Please forward this article to your friends and relatives.

Bad News

September 17, 2012 European newspapers exploded with a new study.

Statements like ….

Shocking findings in new GMO study: Rats fed lifetime of GM corn grow horrifying tumors, 70% of females die early *

“The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The researchers said 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females died prematurely,…” *

Cancer row over GM foods, as study says, it did THIS to rats… and can cause organ damage and early death in humans *

This was the first ever study to examine the lifetime effects of eating GMOs. This study has been deemed “the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats.” *

*See sources at the end of this post.

Plus, the articles included pictures of the mice  with tumors as large as one half of their bodies.  If you want to see the pictures, here are the links:  http://www.thegrocer.co.uk  and  http://www.dailymail.co.uk

When We Talk About GMO Most of Us Relate It to CORN

… and there are good reasons for this.

Most if not all corn grown in the US and Canada is genetically modified (GMO), unless the corn is Certified Organic.  Most of it is used as a sweetener in our everyday foods and beverages.  It is far cheaper and sweeter than sugar alone.  The demand for corn syrup is growing exponentially.

Worst News: How It Effects You and Your Family

Unfortunately GM corn is made into High Fructose Corn Syrup, (HFCS). It is also called glucose-fructose syrup , glucose/fructose, Glucose-Fructose syrup^,  high-fructose maize syrup  or just corn syrup.    This is the most commonly used food and beverage sweetener in the US and Canada.

Corn Syrup is in Most of Your Food

Corn syrup is added to: breads, baked goods, breakfast cereals, granola and breakfast bars, lunch meats, soups, yogurts, candies, chocolates, ice-cream, condiments and many, many more foods and drinks.**

And it Huge Contributor to Our Growing Waistline

Did you know that soda sweetened with HFCS is so calorie rich that New York Mayer Micheal Bloomberg and the New York City Board of Heath are pushing to limit the size of these sugary drinks sold in New York due to widespread obesity problems that take the lives of 6000 New Yorkers each year? (You can the details here)

OK, you only eat organic food, but…

Do You Know What Your Children are Eating at their Day-Care or School?

You guessed it, the same old processed foods full of corn syrup.  Because it’s cheap and widely available.  If you ask your day-care, why they use HFCS sweetened foods? They will say, “because children like it.”  Can they learn to like something else? Absolutely!

What Can We Do About This?  How Can We Avoid Corn Syrup in our Food?

The Answer is simple:

1)  Choose organic food over conventional. (Best Case Scenario)

2)  At the very least, avoid processed foods and stop buying food containing corn Syrup (just read the ingredients).

There is a list of NON GMO products you can access here: http://www.nongmoproject.org/

3)  Make sure you provide your children’s lunch, not the school cafeteria. OR, if the school Principal and Director are open and willing to listen, TALK TO THEM you may change more than one life for the better.

OK, We Are Not Mice and Our Life-Span is Longer Than 2 Years, But Do YOU REALLY Want To Take Chances With Your Life?  What About The Lives of Your Developing Children???

If you are already eating organic food and think that GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) don’t affect you, it very likely does affect your day-care or school age children.  Plus, it still affects those in your family who don’t eat organic.   Please forward this article to your friends and relatives.

SOURCES:

* http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/technology-and-supply-chain/monsanto-weedkiller-and-gm-maize-in-shocking-cancer-study/232603.article

*  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2205509/Cancer-row-GM-foods-French-study-claims-did-THIS-rats–cause-organ-damage-early-death-humans.html?openGraphAuthor=%2Fhome%2Fsearch.html%3Fs%3D%26authornamef%3DSean%2BPoulter

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup

The abstract of the study

http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm

Did you hear about the dangers of grilling your meats?  But how many of us can really give up their BBQ when the weather turns nice?  Probably very few.  In fact, I recently had a conversation with my mother’s cardiologist, who is considered to be one of the top specialists in the city.  When I asked him if he ever got tempted by grass fed organic steak on the BBQ (I know his family eats organic), he said, that he eats a BBQ steak once in a while, and added: “You’ve got to live” with a wink.

My children love barbecued meats and I even grill our meat in the winter on our outdoor BBQ. Here are my tips to reduce the formation of harmful chemicals in your meat, poultry or fish:

Marinate, Marinate, Marinate

Marinating your meats can reduce polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs) by up to 92%. 1 Both PAHs and HCAs are known carcinogens.

Beer, wine, olive oil with lemon and spices, garlic and onion can reduce the levels of both the above substances from 25 to 90%. Light and non alcoholic beer is less effective whereas dark beer and red wine can reduce these harmful substances by up to 87 to 90% respectively.  2

A combination of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic can also lower HCA levels in grilled chicken by as much as 90 percent. 1

Some sources even suggest consuming red wine and beer with your grilled meat.

Time Matters

There longer you marinate your meat, the greater it  seems to reduce the formation of these harmful substances.   The minimum suggested time being 1 hour, when you are in a rush.  Otherwise 6, 8, 12 or more hours seems to be the best amount of time for marination.

Spice Blends Can be Used for Marinating or Add Them to Your Minced Meat

Caribbean, Southwest and Herb mixes also significantly decrease HCAs 3 :

Marination with a Caribbean mixture decreased the total HCA content by as much as 88 percent.

Ingredients of a Caribbean mix include:  Dried thyme,  garlic powder, cinnamon, ground coriander, ground ginger, cayenne pepper, ground allspice, ground nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Marination with a Herb mix decreased HCAs by as much as 72 percent.

Ingredients of a Herb mix include: Dry or fresh sage, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper.

Also marination with a Southwest blend decreased HCAs by as much as 57 percent.

Ingredients of a Southwest mix include: chili powder, paprika, cayenne, cumin, coriander ground, granulated garlic and onion, salt and pepper.

  Bottom Line

You can easily create your own marinade and rub.  Just combine your favorite herbs and spices, add olive oil, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar or water, onion, garlic and you are done.

Here Are a Few Other Ingredients That Work Well:

Cherries, prunes, apples, blueberries, turmeric, onions and garlic, mustard, paprika, cloves, etc. 4

Frying and Roasting is No Better

Grilling is not an exception, every time you cook your meats at the high temperature, it forms the same unhealthy compounds. 5

“Bake, roast, or stir-fry. Grilling and barbecuing generate the most heat, so they produce the most HCAs. Next comes pan-frying and broiling. Instead, try baking, roasting, or stir-frying. And, if you pan-fry, We recommend lowering the temperature on the stove as the best way to reduce the amount of HCAs, says Knize. Cutting the frying temperature of ground beef from 480[degrees] to 390[degrees], for example, eliminates around 80 percent of the HCAs.”  6

Have Antioxidant Rich Food With Your Meat

 Fresh salad and vegetables are good to mitigate the grilling.  Spinach and cruciferous varieties such as cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts are also highly recommended.  So are the fermented foods, such as sour krout and of course an occasional beer or a glass of red wine.

Add Some Super Spices

“Spices and herbs with the highest antioxidant capacity. These ‘Super Spices’ are: cinnamon, oregano, red pepper, ginger, rosemary, thyme, and yellow curry. Did you know that just a half teaspoon of dried oregano packs about the same antioxidant power as a quarter cup of almonds or almost four cups of fresh spinach?” 7

Add plenty of onion, garlic and spices, to your salad or vegetables.  Teas, fruits and berries are also a good source of antioxidants.

Grilling Veggies is OK

When grilling vegetables these harmful compounds don’t seem to form.  But it is recommended to grill your vegetables first, before the meat.

Other Helpful Suggestions

Some suggest cooking your meats and fish on a cedar plank.  A cedar plank also adds an incredible flavour.

Clean your grill well before using.

When possible remove fat or skin before grilling.

Reduce the Cooking Time and Temperature

You can lightly BBQ your meat, then finish it in a stew or the oven at a lower temperature.    It will still retain some it’s smoky flavor.

Some people suggest pre-cooking your meat in a microwave oven for a minute or two before grilling.

Grill your meat away from a direct flame.  Just pile your coals on one side of the BBQ and place your meat on the other side.

If possible, cut your meat into smaller pieces before grilling, it will reduce the cooking time.

You can also use heavy gauge aluminum foil that into which you have punched a grid of small holes and place it onto the grill.  Cook your meat on this aluminum foil. This also works great for burgers.

Flip your meat frequently.

Avoid Burning Your Meat

Black or dark brown parts are considered to be the worst.

Natural Charcoal

Also, we only use natural hardwood charcoal for our BBQ, not gas or briquettes.  Charcoal is not only a healthy alternative, it also provides superior tasting meat, especially if you add some small, dry grape vine branches or cherry/apple tree wood chips to your charcoal.

THE MOST IMPORTANT

What you grill is the most important, of course. 🙂  But I don’t need to tell you that, as an organic consumer, you already know this.

AND

As my husband, who is a physiology graduate, always says “If you eat well 85 – 90% of the time you are OK to cheat once in a while. Your body is a intelligent organism capable of self regulation and healing, if you treat it well, it can and it will detoxify itself.”

By eating well he means organic food 90% of the time, plenty of raw fruits and vegetables and homemade juices, raw nuts and seeds every day, fermented foods like home made sauerkraut or homemade natto. (We have a fantastic source of natto, kosher organic and very mild tasting. Please email me if you want my contact.)

By cheating he means homemade organic pastries or cake, dark good quality chocolate and grass feed organic streak,  organic chicken barbecued on charcoal, and organic chicken or beef burgers on the grill… you get the picture.

We Would Like to Hear From YOU.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please post them below.

Sources:

1 The Free Library: New Study Shows Marinating Meat May Help Prevent Cancer

2 Journal of Agricalture and Food Chemistry 

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf801837s

3 PubMed .org

 4 The Free Library: Well-Done Research

 5 National Cancer Institute

6 The Free Library: Feeling the heat: are overcooked meat and poultry dangerous?

7 The Free Library: Study Finds Spice-Rich Marinades Can Reduce Harmful Compounds When Grilling.

http://preventcancer.aicr.org/site/News2?abbr=pr_&page=NewsArticle&id=13394&news_iv_ctrl=1102

We are now offering gift certificates! 

Do you feel that someone you know can benefit from our products? Why not give them a gift certificate?

Whether it is for a birthday, wedding, anniversary, Rosh Hashana, Purim, Passover or just an appreciation or thank you gift, we can personalize one of our gift certificates, print it and mail it for you.  

You get to choose the amount, the type products (optional) and the recipient. We will happily take care of the rest.

One of our long-term customers has been buying more whole chicken than she needs and systematically gives them away.  She feels that they make great gifts to people who can appreciate it and to those who can benefit from it.  And she should know because this customer is a medical doctor, who has her practice in Montreal for many years. 

If you are at a loss as to what to give someone, try giving a unique gift, a ‘Tiferet Gift Certificate’ we are here for you.  

Please contact us via our Contact Us form.  

by Stephen Foxman R.O.H.P., is a nutritionist/ naturopath

 The first time my wife and I tasted grass-fed, grass finished beef we both immediately reacted, “Wow!”.  It was like tasting meat for the first time.  Terrific mouth feel, delicious flavor and texture.  We also noticed that because it was so nutrient-rich, we were satisfied with almost half the quantity of meat we usually have as a serving….  and this continues to be our experience.  Once tried, you’ll be hooked and will find it difficult to go back to regular grain fed meat. 

Here are Some of the Many Benefits of Grass-Fed, Grass Finished Meat:

·        Taste – great flavor- unlike regular meat which has little flavor outside of the fat, grass-fed beef has less fat but more beefy flavor from the meat itself.

….and a variety of tastes – taste depends on many factors such as soil, grass, different plants eaten by the animal and the season.  This creates a rich palette of tastes for the consumer.

·        Free! – grass-fed meat is usually free of hormones, antibiotics and growth promoters – no pesticides or growth hormones to worry about gives one peace of mind.  

·        Economical – Yes, even though more than double the price of regular meat, grass-fed meat is so nutrient-rich and satisfying that one needs almost half portions of the equivalent in regular meat.  Besides the fact that overdoing protein quantity is an unhealthy practice as one only needs small portions of animal protein in the diet in order to obtain the health benefits –too much meat can be toxic to the body.  Even if it costs a little more in the end, there are so many healing properties to grass-fed meat that you’ll save on hospital, doctor, and pharmacy costs.  With a stronger immune system, less sick days too!

·        Less Shrinkage – unlike regular grain-fed meat which is full of water, grass-fed meat will shrink much less in cooking.  This means you’ll have more to eat, another way it is more economical.

·        Healthy Fats – fat from grass-fed meat contains CLA * and omega 3’s .   The healthiest long lived cultures had diets high in omega 3’s, usually from wild fish consumption or wild game meat.   Regular grain-fed meat is the opposite.  Animals are fed corn and soybeans which are high in omega 6’s.  Unlike omega 3’s which lessen inflammation and are cancer protective, meat high in omega 6’s contribute to inflammation, obesity, cancer and heart disease.

*CLA (CONJUGATED LINOLEIC ACID)HEALTH BENEFITS

·        Increases muscle mass while reducing fat

·        Increases metabolism

·        Normalizes thyroid function

·        Strengthens immune system

·        Reduces risk of cancer, heart disease, hyperthyroidism, diabetes

 To sum up, the natural way is always the best and the natural diet for animals is to graze on grass or pasture.   When we eat these animal foods with respect, appreciation and in the proper quantity we are getting optimum nutrition in an easily assimilable form.

Stephen Foxman R.O.H.P., is a nutritionist/ naturopath and has been working with and teaching healing diets for over 40 years.  He is available for consultations at: sfoxman@gmail.com

Canada’s Passover Magazine Article – The World of Organic Chicken and Meat

Please follow the above link to read a copy of this article.